As we celebrate Mother’s Day and honor the women in our lives who care so deeply and sacrifice for their children, it often comes to mind the difficulties those in our inner cities must confront, often alone and with little resources or support.
In the most impoverished countries of the world, the challenges mothers face are quite different but oftentimes more dire when trying to protect their children from the illnesses and diseases rampant in their countries. These women and their families are often fighting diseases no longer thought of in the United States — malaria, tuberculosis, and infectious diseases that especially affect children, as well as passing HIV to children.
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President Donald Trump has reprioritized our foreign aid dollars to focus on the most desperate in need. As one of the richest countries in the world, we can afford to provide humanitarian relief and protect our national security at the same time. As Christians, we cannot turn our backs on the poor and needy, even if they are half a world away.
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While drastically cutting foreign aid, Trump has focused on programming that benefits the U.S. and our allies. Only 0.3% of the federal budget now goes to global health, and these programs provide an enormous return on investment for Americans and demonstrate our values.
No doubt reevaluating our priorities in U.S. aid to other countries was the right approach and focusing on those that provide compassionate care for the least of these.
The Trump administration’s Global Health Strategy declares that the U.S. “will continue to be the world’s health leader and most generous nation in the world.” American investments to stop the spread of infectious diseases at our borders and save the lives of millions of people, particularly the most vulnerable in poor countries, is an America First priority.
The president’s team has focused on continuing to fund several effective and much-needed programs that utilize U.S. research and technology and those whose collaboration with the private sector is transforming the lives of millions around the world.
A friend who visited Malawi told of his experience of sitting with a half-dozen women who were HIV positive holding their HIV negative babies because they received treatment through PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. One mother was the village chief’s wife, and she had twin baby boys. Trump has made ending mother-to-child transmission of HIV a priority by the end of his administration.
PEPFAR was first implemented in 2004 to assist primarily African countries with the HIV/AIDS epidemic that was raging across the continent. This investment has saved more than 26 million lives, prevented 7.8 million babies from being born with HIV, and provided treatment to 20 million people.
My friend also visited a home for 25 children who lost their parents to AIDS, but had the support of PEPFAR for housing, food, and schooling. One little boy made paper neckties to present with American and Malawian flags, demonstrating the goodwill between our two nations.
These hopeful stories are very different than the days before PEPFAR. A story from Eswatini where I traveled in 2015, was of a mother in her final days laying on the dirt floor of her hut while her five children played outside with their grandparents. Before PEPFAR this woman had no medicine, and the doctor could only leave some soft liquid protein for her to drink and lotion for her sores. The country was in a drought, so the family did not have enough to eat or the ability to provide for themselves. Once PEPFAR started, mothers could access treatment, learn skills for a job, and children of parents with HIV could receive assistance from local churches as a part of PEPFAR.
The Trump administration has prioritized continuing to fund PEPFAR along with the Global Fund — a worldwide partnership to defeat AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria — and should look at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate more than half the world’s children against some of the deadliest diseases.
The President’s Malaria Initiative has built critical infrastructure for disease surveillance and rapid outbreak response, strengthening health security across Africa and Asia not only to prevent malaria, but contain diseases like Ebola and Marburg before they reach the United States.
All of these programs rely on private-sector resources and technology. U.S. companies are innovating to end malaria, and jobs here in the U.S. are changing the pace of the fight against the world’s oldest and deadliest disease, including:
Wisconsin’s SC Johnson has developed a game-changing vector control tool, a spatial repellent known as Guardian that provides up to one year of protection from insect-borne diseases; BASF Public Health is developing next-generation bed nets in North Carolina, ensuring one of the most effective tools we have against malaria withstands growing insecticide resistance; and in South Carolina, Anovotek is working on novel repellent treated fabrics to keep our men and women in uniform safe from biting insects like mosquitos and the diseases they carry. This can be transformed to help others around the world.
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No one is suggesting the U.S. carry the entire burden to help solve these global health issues, but bringing our technology, our delivery systems, and our compassion to help those in need should be a priority, should be funded, and should be supported by Americans.
Mothers in Cameroon travel hundreds of miles with their babies to get malaria treatments provided by U.S. programs. When we think of the sacrifices mothers make for their children, Americans can be proud of the work our government is doing to help them.
Donald Eason is president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education, an accomplished corporate executive, and has been a church pastor for more than 30 years in the Detroit, Michigan area.
